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Friday, October 8, 2010

beautiful things: prayer request

I cannot believe I have gone this whole week without a blog post! I was doing so good, but between work, house-sitting and life I think I needed a little break. On top of all that I am sick, but that is not too bad in the scheme of things.

I am not sure how much I can or should say, but this has been weighing so heavily on my heart for the last few weeks and a shared burden is lighter, right?

A few weeks ago mine and Ashlee's former sitter from daycare, Kathy, who cared for us for 3 years, was indicted and arrested on a charge of first degree murder in the death of her daughter's fiance's two and a half year old son, which happened last December. The boy had serious injuries, but also had previous medical conditions, which we believe caused him to fall and hit his head.

My family supports her 100% and we do not believe there is any way that she could possibly be guilty. If you know Kathy, you know how much she enjoys children and what a loving person she is. She has had her own daycare for over 30 years. It completely baffles me when I try to process how the detective came to the conclusion that she murdered this precious little one. There is talk that the detective is looking to make a name for himself, which makes us believe that this is a witch hunt.

This past Tuesday and the Tuesday prior, my family has gone to her hearings to show our support for her and her family. It literally breaks my heart to sit in the courtroom, to see her in shackles, to hear her daughter crying and know that she innocent. I hope to make it to as many hearings as I can to show my support for her and her family. It was powerful on Tuesday to see somewhere around 14 people squeezed into the small courtroom all in support of Kathy.

I am sharing this with you to ask for your prayers in this situation. I know and believe that God is bigger than this dark and seemingly hopeless situation. I ask that you pray for encouragement for Kathy and her family as I think they all feel very broken right now, for wisdom for her attorneys and most of all for truth to shine brightly in her case. (Thank you in advance for your prayers! And praise God she was released on bail Tuesday!)

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the story of Joseph. This Bible verse keeps coming to mind, Genesis 50:20 says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." I pray that God can use this terrible situation in the lives of Kathy and her family for His good.

Tuesday, at lunch after the hearing, I picked up my copy of Beautiful Things Happen When A Woman Trusts God by Shelia Walsh and God had something profound waiting for me. I would say it was ironic, but we all know it was God. I am on Chapter Nine, called Trusting God with Your Dreams-The Beauty of Forgiving. I was surprised when Shelia starts talking about the story of Joseph.

She said,
"What happens to you when you find yourself at the bottom of a well with no warning? Do you think your life is over? Do you believe that God's will for you has been thwarted? I trust with everything in me that God is bigger than any scheme of man! God uses even the things that someone intends for harm to make something beautiful- to make us more like Jesus.

Maybe you have been thrown into a pit by force, or maybe it's a pit of your own choosing because of these times we live in....Joseph's story shows what can happen when you trust that God is at work-regardless if he has to pull you from a pit you were forced into or chose (even if unwittingly).

We tend to think that if God is with us, things will fall into place in ways that make us feel comfortable and safe. That is what trust in God procures, right? Not at all.

The logic is not: trust God and he will always keep you safe. Bad things-frightening things!-happen every day to those who love the Lord. The truth is: what makes us safe is the absolute truth that God is with us no matter what our circumstances."

4 comments:

I really need to get that book, it sound amazing! And that was what I needed to hear tonight with all this school stuff looming over me! I'm keeping Kathy in my prayers, that the truth will come out and that God will prevail the ones working against him in this!